We had a visiting priest today who wore violet vestements. Our regular priest always wears rose on Gaudete Sunday. Unfortunately said visiting priest also peppered the Mass with ad-libs. Thankfully he left the words of consecration alone.

White Gothic chasuble (of polyester) with 4 inch pink (Pastor said “dusky rose”) border and a matching “dusky rose” stole over the chasuble. Of course the minute-and-a-half of idle of chatter from the sanctuary between the end of the music and “The Lord be with you” was filled with all of the absurd and ridiculous “this isn’t pink, it’s rose” jokes as well. I dread Gaudete and Laetare every year.

Oh and the the cantress pronounced Gaudete “Gaudette”; I almost threw something at her.

Navy blue all three Sundays of Advent! I am not a psychologist but I believe our pastor is a very unhappy man. He told our parish secretary that he is sorry he became a priest. He is 67 years old, angry, and bitter. Perhaps if he could see his way to say the mass the way it is supposed to be said he would find the blessings he longs for. Pray for our priests! They are under attack every day.

Our pastor wore a rose chasuble with matching maniple, and he used the veil and burse as well. Alas, it was never a Solemn Mass set (since our parish also has the EF, they try to buy full sets…) or the other pieces were lost for the deacon simply wore his alb and violet deacon’s stole.

I would happily have worn Rose, except our parish has none. Perhaps next summer or fall we can look at this; however, I have been emphasizing other, more pressing needs, and I arrived here just in June; so I thought it prudent not to spend money right away on new vestments.

I went to my home parish and their NO today. Our Pastor wore purple, which, apparently is mundane. I did find the bongo drums and the electric guitar were so inspiring that after communion the parish was so happy with the grand performance of the choir almost everybody broke out in applause! I wished I had gone to the Latin mass. All I could think of was the Dire Straights line… “he’s banging on those bongos like a chimpanzee…”

I did manage to break my concentration on the bongos and imagined the pastor facing East holding the holy Eucharist up to Christ who was flanked by angels, instead. Alas, the bongo banging made me realize I was hallucinating.

I wore a beautiful rose (Roman style) chasuble with matching stole and maniple and used the matching chalice veil and burse — all borrowed from a seminarian who purchased them in Mexico. (I have my own semi-Gothic chasuble, but it’s more pink than dusky rose.) I find it mildly amusing that so many clerics seem to think it necessary to comment on the color during Mass. Most people couldn’t care less what the celebrant wears: Gothic or Roman, violet or rose or, for that matter, the saffron robes of a Buddhist monk.

[You make a great point, Father! I didn’t comment on the color variation today, either. I figured that everyone there would know what the score is. Then again, I was celebrant of a Traditional Latin Mass. It wasn’t a self-affirming, self-absorbed, self-enclosed, sub-urban parish.]

Away on travels, and saw violet/purple-ish vestments, at least when I had a good look (knowing this thread would be up again soon), since the Church was so packed that from the standing room at the back (yes, I was late, sadly) the celebrant was all but invisible. On the other hand, Fr. Z. Seasonally minded heart would have rejoiced at Hadyn’s Missa in tempore adventus et quadragesimae, were in not that one would expect that particular setting on the other 3 Sunday’s of advent, rather than Guadete Sunday.

Confusing, as in defying expectations and the usual patterns? I’ll raise you one – it was a Jesuit church.

PS: Fr Thomas, I daresay 99% of churchgoers doesnt even know the difference between gothic or roman vestments, much less care about it, but should someone enter the sanctuary in what clearly are buddist monk’s robes, I’d start making eyecontact with some other men who might be helpful in removing that lunatic from anywhere near the tabernacle – gently or otherwise. If you are going to don saffron robes, I recommend you do it in a parish where they know you face… :p

Before mass I was in the vestry and the rose robe was on a hanger while the priest got ready and I mentioned that I did not know our parish even had rose vestments (because another visiting priest once remarked on that).

And this priest said, yes, it’s pink and some priests don’t like to wear pink. And I asked the other lector (“reader” in wdtprs.com land) who was an older lady if that was rose or pink and she said pink. And she was wearing a pink top, and I felt bad because I should have chosen a pink/rose tie this morning, but forgot.

It is tempting to take to take the comment above that most people “couldn’t care less” about liturgical matters as very patronising to those who can. However, in some circles it is probably not so far from the truth, given they will in all probability have been fed a diet of wretchedness and bad taste for the last 50 years.

Rather than lament it, it needs to be addressed. The people can’t acquire good taste for themselves. They need to be shown by the example of consistently sound liturgy, as laid down. Had this been the case from 1970 onwards, the Church (to state the obvious) wouldn’t be in the state it’s in.

Dusty rose for the priest with a beautiful embroidered stole in the same tint peeking out from underneath. I felt sorry for the deacon though, who was vested in an extremely hot pink dalmatic…there is no other way to describe the tint.

And no comment regarding the color, either. My RCIA students, however, knew the significance, since we covered it in passing during this morning’s session, which dealt with, strangely enough, the joy we should have with the fast-approaching Christmas event.

Unfortunately there’s no option for both. Celebrant wore a very nice shade of rose, concelebrant wore violet. Slightly confused as to why we didn’t do the Gloria today, and we’ve been omitting the hand-bells at the Consecration throughout all of Advent, which strikes me as odd.

Our priest wore purple, but commented apologetically that he ought to have been wearing “pink” vestments but the parish doesn’t have them. Since English is not his first language, I forgive him the “pink”. Actually, I think the pink/rose debate is a red/scarlet/crimson herring. Does it matter what we call it, as long as we know why, on this particular Sunday, the robes aren’t purple/violet? To my eye, “rose” IS “pink”. And a rose by any other name would still rejoice on Gaudete Sunday.

Rose, more pinkish on the deacon’s stole and more red (closer to the classic rosacea) on the priest’s chasuble. Chalice veil matched, but the sacristan apparently forgot to put out the burse.
And no stupid jokes about pink.

Purple.
Visiting priest mentioned, in passing , in a few words on Guadete, that the parish hadn’t got any pink vestments, otherwise he would have.
Im sure Ive seen some, slamon pink and sortof embroidered, not ponkpink, sometime not so long ago, I presume that must have been Father’s own, then.
BTW Queritur , What vestments should be a parish’s and what should be personal, or does it just sort of happen?

I always find it highly amusing that all the other 364 days of the year, men swear they can’t tell the difference between, say, fuschia and purple, or slate blue and navy blue, or lemon yellow and goldenrod when we women discuss colors, and yet this ONE day a year, they suddenly have magical color-distinguishing powers. Either it’s a miraculous event, or the other 364 days of the year, they just have selective color ignorance. :o)

I was able to borrow a rose stole from one of my brother deacons, as I haven’t added one to my collection yet (no rose dalmatic to be found, unfortunately!). The priest had a nice looking rose and gold chasuble that he also borrowed.

I also shared with the priest a poem I composed for the occasion:
“Roses are *red*/Violets are blue/Your vestments look *pink*/To everyone but you!”

This was our second Sunday at the FSSP parish some two hours north of us. Vestments were violet, and Mass was glorious.

At the risk of running off on a tangent: our Baronius press 1962 hand missal said that the Gallican Advent Preface could have been used at Mass (it doesn’t appear in our Angelus Press missal as far as we can tell; in fact, the option to use rose vestments doesn’t appear in the Angelus Press missal either). What we heard instead was the Preface of Holy Trinity (listed as a valid option in the Baronius Press missal and the only choice in the Angelus Press missal).

How many other people out there, I wonder, heard the Advent Preface today?

Rose!!! Hurray! And purple the other Sundays. I have been at this parish since the mid 90s and thru 3 different priests and they all wore blue for Advent and Lent and never wore rose. I expressed my delight to Father after Mass and learned that he had bought the rose and purple vestments himself because the parish did not have any. Father is new to us this past summer and is slowly making some good and to me, very welcome, changes.

Saw a lot of pictures on line of pink vestments … very few were actually rose. Priest at my Mom’s parish posted pictures of three clerics (from Catholic memes) and those vestments were a far cry from rose … they were pink to be sure.

(Ordinary Form Mass) Father wore a Gothic-style chasuble (I say ‘style’ since the design on it leaned more “modern”) that was a soft shade of rose/pink. Not obnoxious or nauseating or laughable. Quite dignified, really. The chasuble had a band down the center front in violet, which I thought was…interesting. Father made no reference to his vestment color in his homily, only a reference to the “pink” Advent wreath candle which represents joy for this Sunday of Advent. I heard nor saw no comments or even snickers from other people about his rose vestments (doesn’t mean there weren’t any, though).

(Novus Ordo parish) My Parochial Vicar and I each have our own rose vestments which we always wear at the appropriate time and we both make use of matching chalice veil/burse. His is a roman style trimmed in silver; mine is gothic style lined in deep, rich gold, with a light brownish/gold decorative band down the center and coming from each shoulder. The parish actually owns a rose vestment too and while there isn’t a dalmatic for the deacon, he at least has a rose stole. I NEVER make any silly comments or jokes about the color. That’s exactly the trite narcissism and banality that occupies too much of the Novus Ordo. It’s immature and belittling and empties the liturgy of important meaning. If I say anything about the color it is always a serious explanation and catechesis about what these liturgical visuals mean.

Internet pictures are always suspect, not necessarily because of intentional deception, but because with fluorescent lights, CCD camera sensitivity, and monitor differences – there can be slight differences in the color actually shown. Same thing with printed material – to do it right, you need to do fine adjustments to make sure you know what you’re seeing.

But Fr. Jim’s comment that if you have to tell people it’s not pink, it’s pink — is close to the mark.

Personally, I’m color blind – so if it looks pink to me, it could be grey or green (!) – it might even be validly rose – so I don’t complain. But if my eyes can detect it’s unmistakably rose, I know they’ve done it right.

Liturgical colors, like art, words and actions – need to be clear. If it needs explanation, it’s being done wrong.

Went to two Masses today; first one was an OF with our Archbishop – vestments were the cheap dark violet ones you see on ebay. The other Mass was an EF Mass – where the priest wore a really nice Roman Rose chasuble with matching items.

That’s simple to explain: rose/pink are all shades in which a man doesn’t want to be found in (and no, we can’t distinguigh between the too, we’ve just learned to associate all frequencies in that area with girls), violet then by default has to be the other option that isn’t white, black, green or red.

For the first time in Lord knows how long – I’m 53 and I can never remember seeing one – our parish has acquired a rose chasuble, which made its debut yesterday. Gothic-style, with simple decorated band down the centre, but quite beautiful really. Definitely not a pink poncho! Father commented very briefly but only to emphasise the symbolism of Gaudete Sunday, as the rose candle was being lit on the wreath. Very appropriate, I thought.

Thanks for the support.
My attitude is that if some (many?) of my brother priests think they are so clever with their rose/pink jokes then they had best prove their comic acumen by coming up with cute quips for all the other colors! Come on, Fathers, let’s hear it! Maybe Fr. Z could sponsor a vestment color joke contest. Here, let me help some by offering equally tacky jokes for other colors.

Samples:
“Well, it’s the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, folks, and I still look like a big bottle of Chartreuse!”

“On virgin’s feasts this white chasuble makes me look like a big cotton ball… Which just happens to go along with most of my homilies and the craft project our kids made in RE this week!”

“Maybe I need to lose some weight but is it just me or does this red chasuble for a martyr’s day make me look like the Fruit of the Loom apple bursting into the sanctuary?!”

“Black? What’s that color? Do you mean blue?”

My response:
Fathers, please, for the love of God and all that is good and holy, please stop. Better yet, just wear purple ALL the time because then we’d at least know you are a liturgical pustule needing to be lanced and drained!

Our parish must possess more than one set of rose vestments. Last year our pastor wore a deep, dusty rose, very attractive. This year the priest who celebrated the same TLM wore light, soft baby pink, not as appealing, but still nice. I dont believe that any priest should feel awkward wearing them unless they are that garish Pepto Bismol color – no one should have to wear that! I also noticed many of the women in the pews wearing various shades of rose/ pink, perhaps in support of Father and to participate in the joy of the day.

Our parish has used an ugly 1970s rose-ish thing for the last few years…until our current pastor went out and bought a beautiful new rose, Gothic-style chasuble with matching dalmatic, stoles, chalice veil, burse, and cope. For Vespers, another of our local priests wore a recently purchased rose cope…which matched his rose vestments for Mass. Uplifting to say the least…

I voted ‘Other’. The vestment was apparently purchased in Rome and was in the salmon-puke-puce range, with too much yellow and brown for it ever to be called rose. Allegedly it is an acceptable alternative for the ‘manly’ pastor who finds pink something he’d rather not even be caught dead wearing. Does this colour inspire joy and gladness? No it doesn’t, it is too murky a colour for that. Such a horrid colour does make me pray that we be granted priests who are manly enough to be obedient to the Churches rubrics and happy to bring God’s joy to others through truly rose vestments.

Fr Hamilton’s vestments and his procial vicar’s were beautiful. And yes rose.

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